Seattle Story Comes Back To Life

SEATTLE — A story killed earlier by KIRO-TV management concerning outstanding arrest warrants for several University of Washington football players was broadcast Wednesday night.

The switch came after Ken Hatch, KIRO president, met with members of the station`s news operation, anchorwoman Susan Hutchison told viewers.

Hatch said in a statement that the report was a ``rational, factual one.``

Mark Sauter, the reporter who produced the story, resigned Tuesday, accusing Hatch of ``cronyism`` with UW officials. Sauter, 31, son of former CBS News president Van Gordon Sauter, said Wednesday the decision to air a story did not alter his resignation decision.

The story, the second in a series, was scheduled to run last Thursday, then rescheduled for Monday after negative public and university reaction to the first part, which criticized UW for low graduation rates of football players. Hatch ordered the story killed Monday, saying it was an attempt to discredit the university.

James Collier, vice president for university relations at Washington, said the school did not pressure KIRO to kill the story.